Corbett Math

Many middle school math websites today try and make everything about them look fancy and nice so that people will use their resources, even though sometimes those resources might not be the best thing for the students that are trying to learn. I decided to go with Corbett maths as my final resource, because it is a pretty basic website besides the fact that it has a variety of different abilities and opportunities for students to grow and learn better. Its wide variety of information is available for kindergartners, all the way up to seniors in high school. Another positive about Corbett maths is that it is free for everyone to use, teachers and students alike. This Corbett maths provides math videos, math practice questions, and worksheets with answers for students to practice on their own and for teachers to be able to use in class to better prepare their students. Another one of my favorite things about Corbett maths is that it has a drop down bar titled 5-a-day, which has 5 questions for students to practice with every single day of the month. Taking one look at the website, one might think that it might not be a very good source. But investigating a little deeper might reveal a hidden gem for teachers to give to their students. 

Word count: 222

https://corbettmathsprimary.com

Synthesis blog 5

The idea of using a book club in a math class seems extremely odd to me and also to other students if I had to guess. Although this seems like a very peculiar idea, incorporating book clubs into math curriculums can expand the students’ minds on how math works in the real world and how they can handle real life situations. Another fine example of why it is a good idea to incorporate book clubs into the math curriculum is that we can better show students how easy it is to organize cross content subjects with math, just like how easy it is to do that for English language arts classes. Incorporating a book club into a math class could also be a great way to get students that may not enjoy math as much more involved in the math setting, giving they are probably more comfortable reading than solving problems. Diversifying your classroom is a great way to keep your students interested and engaged. Although, it might be difficult to introduce something very alien into the classroom, so it is our job as teachers to make sure we provide well explained instructions to the students. Book clubs are a great way to incorporate different ideas into the math class and engage students who may not be interested in math. 

Word count: 220 

Math TV

For my resource blog for October 6th, I came across a website called mathtv.com. This website was described as the “Netflix of online learning”. Math TV is home to 10 thousand free math videos covering topics such as algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and calculus. However, their “Basic Math” topic will be most relevant for middle school students. They have 34 amazing math tutors that make their videos. The reason the website uses so many tutors is because they use all of the varied approaches to the same math topics and problems help students see how to solve problems differently. The website can also be used on all mobile devices so students can watch them on the go or teachers can incorporate them into daily mathematics instruction. I think it is self-descriptive as to why this resource can be so valuable. One of the many things that I enjoyed about this website is their variety of videos and tutors. I think a lot of the times we get caught up teaching one way to do things (often our own way) and we do not allow our students to think of different ways to solve a problem, even though it might be easier for them that way. Overall, I think this website will provide a useful tool for teachers that allows them to show different ideas on different problem-solving techniques. 

https://mathtv.com

Word count: 235

Historical Fiction in English and Social Studies Classrooms: Is It a Natural Marriage?

In the article titled “Historical Fiction in English and Social Studies Classrooms: Is It a Natural Marriage?”, we see a study group of ELA and Social Studies teachers that share the lessons they learned from reading historical fiction and nonfiction together. Through this, they are able to explore different approaches for a text from both disciplines, and how seeing through the different approaches can more fully contextualize the work, as well as cultivate historical empathy. For me, this was a difficult read. I had a hard time focusing in on the information the author was giving us and picking out certain topics that seemed important. I did pick up on a few things, such as contextualizing. Contextualizing is described by the author as, “the act of placing an event in its proper context—within the web of personalities, circumstances,” (Hinton, Suh, Colòn-Brown, O’Hearn, 23). When I was in high school, one of my social studies teachers gave us a historical novel. She told us the object of the novel was for us was to gain a better sense of knowing and understanding of the context of the time period discussed in the novel and the chronology of that context. This allowed us as students to gain a true understanding of the characters, time period, and events that happened in the novel. 

 Word count: 222

Freckle Education

For this week’s resource blog post, I decided to go with another website I found. The organization that runs the website is called Freckle Education, formerly known as Front Row. It targets kids kindergarten through ninth grade, and is free for teachers separate from some fees for different upgrades you can buy. I think this website is a good resource for students because it allows kids to practice math at their own level and pace. It has more than 30,000 math questions and starts with a diagnostic that starts the students off at just the right level. This allows the students to get the appropriate level of instruction and lessons that fosters the right amount of growth that is good for the students. Front Row also features lessons, assessments, and reports to help teachers come up with different material and research different strategies for teaching. The website also has a dropdown bar titled “resources” that has case studies, research, webinars, and blogs to help teachers share ideas and learn new ones from different teachers. I think this website is a great resource because it gives the students the right amount and level they need to really engage with learning. At the same time, teachers are able to check on a students work and see what areas they might be struggling with, as well as provide very useful information, giving teachers an advantage when it comes to teaching and adapting to students. 

https://www.freckle.com

Word count: 241 

CH. 6 How to Use a Textbook

Chapter 6 of Subjects Matter titled, “How to Use a Textbook” offers much insight into how a textbook should be used in a classroom and the importance of variety of instruction when teaching your classroom. It brought up many points I found particularly interesting and some different ideas to figure out what’s really important in the textbook. A lot of the time, teachers think it is a good idea to go through the whole book thinking that it will help the students in the long run. Many of us already know from experience that skimming your eyes over the text just to say that you did it does not help the students remember the information. Instead, the chapter talks about being selective when picking out topics to teach your students, and it also gives you questions to ask yourself when going through the information such as does the idea, topic, or process represent a big idea with enduring value beyond the classroom? Questions like these allow us to really delve on the concepts we are teaching and determine if they are REALLY important to the students’ learning. Going along with the textbook, this chapter also provides a few activities that help you as a teacher divide the textbook up or provide alternative activities rather than just assigning reading. One activity that stuck out to me was the idea of finding out what’s on the big tests our students have to take. I believe this one stuck out to me because I always felt that my teachers already knew what was on the test, but when it came down to it, they were off by a good bit. It never occurred to me that finding out what was on the big test and basing my teachings and lessons around that would help my students better. 

Word count: 304

Prodigy Game

For this week’s resource blog post, I decided to research helpful math websites that teach students new and fun ways to learn math. I came across a website called “Prodigy”, a roll-play game that teaches students math lessons along the way. From what I read and observed on the website, it seems like a very helpful source for elementary and middle school math teachers. Some interesting things I read on the website included it has curriculums and skills for students to learn from first to eighth grade, motivates students to learn outside of the classroom as well as in the classroom, and offers incentives in-game that help keep the students interested and engaged in learning. Not only does it help the students, but the teachers as well. At the bottom of the page is a link to teacher articles that help make lesson more engaging and effective. These articles include tips and tricks to help keep your student engaged, but also they have more websites and games that teachers can use to change things up in the classroom. The amount of potential sources and articles this website has as well as the potential for learning provided for the students is astounding. This website is a special tool available to both students and teachers, which is very hard to find. Overall, this website is very useful and a great source of learning and engaging with students and connecting modern technology with traditional learning. 

https://www.prodigygame.com

Word Count: 244